City of Montreal cancels its Formula E race

Formula E organizers to take legal action against the city

Lucas Di Grassi of Brazil, with ABT Schaeffler, drives through the first turn on his way to winning the driver's championship at Sunday's Montreal Formula ePrix.Tyler Remiorz

The organizers of the FormulaE car race say they will take legal action against the city of Montreal for cancelling the upcoming race, according to Reuters.

The FormulaE organization said in a statement it was “very surprised and disappointed by the unilateral decision and announcement of the mayor of Montreal.”

“This is a clear case of a new mayor undoing what the previous mayor did. Whilst there is a contract in place, we will not make further comments at this point as this is now in the hands of our Canadian legal counsel.”

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced Monday that the city was pulling the plug on the controversial electric car race, citing unpaid bills for the 2017 event and increased costs expected if the race went ahead in 2018.